Constituents should call out Denham for defying majority rule

Radicals in the U.S. House of Representatives shut down the American government this week in yet another unhinged attempt to kill Obamacare.

Michael Fitzgerald

Radicals in the U.S. House of Representatives shut down the American government this week in yet another unhinged attempt to kill Obamacare.

What House Republicans are doing is so reprehensible that local congressmen who were part of the effort should be called out. One of the culprits represents part of San Joaquin County.

Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock, is not all bad. He opposes military action against Syria, for instance, perhaps because he is an Air Force veteran and understands the cost.

That sets him apart from the rest of the GOP, which seems lost without perpetual warfare.

But Denham is among those Republicans refusing to pass a budget unless the Senate agrees to defund Obamacare (technically, he voted to fund the government through Dec. 15.)

Denham declined to comment.

I don't know how you feel about Obamacare. The inflationary, dysfunctional state of American health care convinced me change was worth a try.

Perhaps you disagree. Fair enough, and history may prove you right.

Denham has every right to oppose Obamacare, too.

But that is beside the point. Obama won two elections, with Obamacare as his signature legislation. He also won a Supreme Court case.

Republicans ran on their platform and lost by 5 million votes. They lost the Senate; and though they held the House, they received 1 million fewer votes there.

If majority rule means anything, then Obamacare is the law of the land. The majority will. And, oh, yes, Barack Obama is president of the United States.

Yet here is Denham on his website:

"The implementation process of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has revealed problem after problem with the law, stymied job creation and slowed economic growth. We need to replace it ... ."

Unfortunately, it is our misfortune to live in a time when an extremist group of Republicans cannot accept democratic outcomes.

If you think I'm overstating the case, consider the Republican demands for raising the debt ceiling (the next Republican-caused government crisis).

According to Wonkbook, citing documents obtained by The National Review:

In return for a one-year suspension of the debt ceiling, House Republicans are demanding a yearlong delay of Obamacare, Rep. Paul Ryan's tax reform plan, the Keystone XL pipeline, more offshore oil drilling, more drilling on federally protected lands, ... a suspension of the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to regulate carbon emissions, more power over the regulatory process in general, ... an overhaul of the Dodd-Frank financial regulations, more power over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's budget ... and more.

This strongly suggests that defunding Obamacare is not the only goal of House Republicans. Their aim is higher: to undo the results of any election they do not win.

The House has degenerated into a sort of procedural nihilism. If it cannot impose its agenda, it will monkey-wrench the American system itself.

That is not politics as usual.

Whatever Denham's other virtues may be, he has joined his Republican colleagues in the House in a destructive, hyper-partisan attempt to nullify the democratic process through procedural manipulation.

If you support the constitutional way, correct Denham. Call him, email him, urge him to oppose Obamacare in the spirit of loyal opposition: with respect for the will of the majority. Or vote him out.